Sunday, September 16, 2012

In 1848, Carl Hilmar Guenther immigrated from Germany to the United States. After a short while spent in the midwest, he made his way to south Texas where he initially built a flour mill on Live Oak Creek in Fredericksburg, Texas. Within a few years, he moved his business to San Antonio and located it on the more powerful San Antonio River just south of the downtown area.

Carl Hilmar Guenther

Dorothea Pape Guenther

Pioneer Flour Mill has been a San Antonio landmark for over 100 years.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The first burial in Davenport Cemetery was Mary Ware Davenport in 1852. Mary was the wife of William Davenport, born in Virginia in 1820, who had come to Texas in 1843. The cemetery is on land that was part of a ranch they purchased on Cibolo Creek in 1851. In 1853, William married Nancy Young, daughter of John Young, who had served in the War of 1812. The cemetery is located just beyond the city limits of San Antonio.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Recently I realized that I have numerous photos taken several years ago at the Zion Chapel of Ease & Cemetery on Hilton Head Island which I have never included here. For those of us who love cemeteries, this is a wonderful gem. This ethereal plot of land beside a busy thoroughfare on Hilton Head Island contains a cemetery established 250 years ago.

Originally a chapel of St. Luke’s Parish, it was established on May 23, 1767, and a chapel was built of wood shortly after 1786. "A well appointed chapel, 30x40 feet, of wood with brick foundations, boasting a sterling Communion Service imported from London, was erected in 1788 under the direction of Captain John Stoney and Isaac Fripp. It was consecrated in 1833. Members of the Barksdale, Baynard, Chaplin, Davant, Fripp, Kirk, Mathews, Pope, Scott, Stoney and Webb families worshipped there until 1868 when the church was abandoned and gradually destroyed." (Peeples, An Index to Hilton Head Island Names (Before the Contemporary Development), p. 43.)

SACREDto the memoryofSAMUEL B. WEBBwhodeparted this life2nd March 1836aged 37 years

His amiable and pious characterwas manifest in the warmaffection of husband, the tenderloved of parent, the sincerity andkindness of friend and humanityof master

Death's terror is the mountainfaith removesTis faith disarms destructionBelieve and look with triumphon the tomb

In 1867...the lovely silver chalices of the Communion Service, brought from England in 1834 had already disappeared. No doubt they had been stolen after the fall of Fort Walker. When next heard of they would be in a pawn shop (in Philadelphia) covered in rust and tarnish, and the man who bought them mistook them for antique goblets. When the tarnish was removed he was amazed to see the sacred Christian symbols and the words ‘Zion Chapel of Ease’. They were returned to the parish and are in use at St. Luke’s on Hilton Head.